Not using your head, Head Enchants are Gone!

A Real Head Scratcher!

File this one in the unexpected and in the trash can too. I don't understand the reasoning behind this. In mid Wrath they made these enchants BoA so you only had to grind the rep for any of these ONE time. So once you got the rep on one toon, you could get that enchant for any toon.

In an effort to make the game less grindy, they did what any smart company would do, they not only didn't put a new head and shoulder enchant in game, they now make the old one non-functional. Why wouldn't they allow enchanters or leatherworkers do the head slot and have scribes do what they are still able to do and create the shoulder enchant? No answers on either of those but my guess is the company line will come out and they will say "thats really not in their plans" which translates to "WE DON'T HAVE TIME OR THE RESOURCES TO DO THAT".

I'd be interested in hearing others thoughts on this.

Source: (HERE) and (HERE)

Ghostcrawler

Head enchants are gone.

We decided that putting head enchants on the various faction vendors wasn't working well with our design intent for the factions. There is a lot of max-level quest content in MoP, much of it focused around the reputation with the new factions. I think it's really cool stuff -- worlds away from the old Argent Crusade scourge stone days. :)

In previous expansions, the head enchants on the faction vendors served to force players into that content. You couldn't even choose which reputation to pursue -- you had to pursue the one with your specific head enchant. Our design intent for MoP is to give players options in how to play, and the head enchant design wasn't compatible with that.

Once we decided to no longer offer new head enchants, we made the older ones non-functional or else players would feel like they had to go back to older content or be missing out on power. This way, helmets are just no longer enchantable and you'll have one less required step to get a piece of loot ready to wear.

Shoulder enchants can now be provided by scribes, so those still exist, but they are also not part of the faction reputation system.

More MoP beta changes.

Sorry this is so long overdue but good news is there is almost no real breaking news for paladins in MoP. I'll keep it brief and hit on only the important things.

Only real interesting thing here is the change to Shield of the Righteousness. The way it is reworked is: Now damages the target, increase block chance by 10% and the amount of block by 30% for 6 seconds. On top of that it allows WoG to stack 5 times and increases the amount you heal yourself by 10%.

Other Beta highlights - Pet battles have been described and added. I'm not a huge fan of this new feature but some seem to like it. Profession details are rolling in and the numbers are far from being SQUISHED. I'll try and post the next info as soon as it comes out.

Paladin (Forums) (source)
Baseline

• Hammer of Wrath now scales from 161% of Spell Power instead of 71.6% of Attack Power.

Talents

• Holy Prism now affects allies within 15 yards, up from 10 yards.
• Sacred Shield now increases critical chance of Flash of Light instead of Word of Glory.

Protection

• Sanctuary now decreases damage taken by 15%, up from 10%.
• Shield of the Righteous now reduces the physical damage you take by 30% instead of increasing your block chance.

Retribution

• Divine Storm now causes 60% weapon damage, up from 50%.

MajorGlyphs

• Glyph of Divine Storm now heals you for 6% of your maximum health, up from 1%.
• Glyph of Hammer of Wrath is now Glyph of Exorcism and now affects Exorcism.   

Paladin (Forums) (Source)
Baseline

• Hammer of Wrath No longer generates a charge of Holy Power.
• Seal of Truth now scales from 13.8% of Spell Power instead of 2.8% of Spell Power + 5.6% of Attack Power.
• Supplication now lasts 8 secs, down from 15 secs. Now causes your next Flash of Light to be a critical.

Talents

• Holy Avenger now lasts 15 secs, down from 20 secs.
• Selfless Healer now also reduces the mana cost of Flash of Light. Now reduces by 35%, down from 50%.

Retribution

• Emancipate now costs 15% of base mana, down from 25% of base mana.
• Exorcism now scales from 79.6% of Attack power, down from 99.5%. Base damage reduced by 20%.
• Guardian of Ancient Kings now has a 5 min cooldown, down from 3 min.
• Mastery: Hand of Light now also affects Hammer of Wrath.
• Sword of Light has an additional effect - Your spell power is now equal to 50% of your attack power, and you no longer benefit from other sources of spell power.

Protection

• Mastery: Divine Bulwark now scales from 120% of Spell Power, down from 225% of Spell Power. Now also increases the effectiveness of Bastion of Glory by an additional 120% of Spell Power.
• Guarded by the Light now also increases your block chance by 10%. Your spell power is now equal to 50% of your attack power, and you no longer benefit from other sources of spell power.
• Shield of the Righteous Reworked - Instantly slam the target with your shield, causing 5,364 Holy damage, increasing your block chance by 10%, and the amount you block by 30% for 6 sec, and causing Bastion of Glory. Bastion of Glory - Increases the strength of your next Word of Glory when used to heal yourself by 10%. Stacks up to 5 times.

Holy

• Beacon of Light now has a 3 sec cooldown, down from 10 sec.
• Denounce base damage has been increased by 100%. Now scales from 122% of Spell Power, up from 61%.
• Guardian of Ancient Kings now has a 5 min cooldown, down from 3 mins. Every time the Guardian heals, it increases your haste by 10%.
• Holy Shock now deals 17,216 base damage/healing, up from 2102 base damage and 6522 base healing. Now scales from 115.6% of Spell Power, up from 57.8%.

Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Denounce has been reworked - Your Holy Shocks have a 50% chance to reduce the cast time of your next Denounce by 1.0 sec.

Pre-MoP dulldrums!

Just like anything in life change is inevitable. Change is constant, yet sometimes it sneaks up on you and you weren't aware it happened. I think it happens more in this game than in real life or at least it happens much faster.

Something occurred to me today as I was leveling up my Druid, I no longer play this game as a social outlet.

There was a time when I logged in to see the people that were on, even on a non raid night. At that time in my life, those were my friends I wanted to see and hang out with. Kinda like going to a bar and hearing all your buds yell "NORM". Not my name but if you watched Cheers you know what I mean. The human interaction were the reason I played the game at one point.

Now when I log on it is sorta like a job. I get what I need to do done, then go do some more. It isn't to make my toon better to raid, or even make it better at 5 mans. It is a grind for achievements or a mount. Then there is always a gold grind. In short WoW is like a job now more than before.

I bring this up because I virtually have no one on my friends list who plays anymore. The few RealID people are either raiding or leveling up their low level toons on another realm and they have since passed my level. Its almost as if I'm not in the cool club anymore. I'm not a socially awkward person, although some might disagree...lol I just don't feel like reaching out to the people playing currently. It isn't against anyone personally, it just not where my persona is at.

The guild I'm in is like a ghost town too. I'm almost exalted there so I don't wan to leave just because people aren't logging on. It is after all a slow time now. I'm guessing after the next patch where the MoP event happens the guild and the game will be more lively.

Anyone else experiencing a similar thing going on? or are you in a different place?

In the next few days I'll be updating the Paladin MoP info I've been sitting on. I've been doing finals for the last week or so and I'm a bit behind.

Til then, have fun on the game however you can.